More information about ATI's long-awaited physics processing is finally trickling into light. ATI has named its GPU accelerated physics processing Asymmetric Physics Processing.

Hardware requirements for Asymmetric Physics Processing include two AMD ATI Radeon based graphics cards and a compatible CrossFire motherboard. One Radeon may be used as a GPU with an additional Radeon acting as a physics processor. The requirement for three Radeons to complete physics processing is only a requirement of Triple Play operation.

ATI’s Triple Play physics processing
is also supported with two ATI Radeon graphics cards operating in
CrossFire with an equal or lesser performing third card dedicated to
physics processing.

Asymmetric Physics Processing requires two AMD ATI Radeon graphics cards for baseline processing, the two graphics cards do not need a direct physical link like CrossFire. AMD is also touting the ability to mix and match different ATI Radeon graphics cards to have greater flexibility for users that upgrade their older graphics cards.

At this time it seems AMD chipsets are the only supported platform for Asymmetric physics processing. Supported chipsets include the AMD 580X, ATI CrossFire Xpress 3200 (for Intel) and the upcoming RD790. It is unknown if the CrossFire capable Intel 975X and P965 chipsets will be supported.

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